Thankful Sunday--September 16, 2012

I am thankful for clean sheets and a freshly made bed.

Chickens, Pumpkins, and Ribbons

But Mostly Ribbons

In September every year, my town holds a small agricultural fair complete with everything from goats to chickens and tractor pulls to cake auctions. The fair is not only a long time tradition in the community, it has become a tradition with my family.  The first year I discovered the fair, I entered a counted cross stitch piece that won a ribbon. From then on, I was hooked. While winning ribbons is fun, the fair has also become a place for us to meet with friends and neighbors. It's where I have the best grilled hot dog of the year and buy cookies from the local champion bakers.  It's where every year, Ward and I marvel at how many colors chickens come in and wonder how people can have tomatoes that look that good at the end of the season. In other words, the fair is good, simple fun.

However, maybe it's time to get honest with you. I have made the fair sound like it's an idyllic scene from the Andy Griffith Show, and I really enjoy the simple pleasures it brings. Well, that's mostly true. However, I just don't go to see the goats and eat hot dogs. The fair brings out my competitive spirit and the main reason I really go is to win ribbons. As I mentioned above, winning a prize was what got me hooked on the fair in the first place. I love the thrill of seeing a ribbon on some of my work and thank goodness this fair is a place where that happens easily. While not every entry gets a prize, effort is certainly rewarded. Now that is a simple pleasure.

Some Scenes From This Years Fair

The fair has many different categories and age groups for entries. Ward is examining the home arts division.

It took me a really long to prepare these walnuts to enter so I was very happy with this ribbon.

The photo category was the most competitive. We entered several pictures and were glad to get a couple ribbons.

The pumpkins are a favorite of everyone.

Several of our flower specimens won blue ribbons and several won no ribbons.

The library was represented at the fair. I worked here Friday morning.

Our favorite chicken. Notice the curly feathers in the back.

Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--September 14, 2012

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money.

Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions.

This Week's Food Waste

 
This was the week of the stinky tomato. I have some end of the season tomatoes on my counter ripening and one of the green ones rotted. One day it seemed fine and the next day it was oozing stinky liquid. No picture of that one because all I could think about was getting that smell out of the kitchen. However, you can see the ripe one that went bad before I got to it. Thank goodness, there was no smell associated with it.

This Week's True Food Confessions

 I Spy a Good Week

Can you find:

1. A delicious dish that Theo put together of macaroni, tuna, and spicy tomatoes.

2. Squash stuffed with sausage, rice and cheese.

3. A pie made from leftover squash stuffing, cheese, eggs, and kale.   A big hit.

4. Frozen pizza topped with fresh tomatoes.

5. Breakfast burritos. A favorite of Ward.

6. Soup made from kale, potatoes, ham, and carrots. Surprisingly quite good.

7. A go to favorite on busy days.

8. Salad with fresh tomatoes.

9. Spaghetti with sauce from the freezer that was made earlier in the summer with extra tomatoes.

10. Dinner at church where we did clean up. (Might not see this one. Don't strain your eyes)

We all chipped in and made it work this week. A meal plan for the entire week with a comprehensive grocery store trip still evades us, but maybe it always will. There are still too many other things that are more interesting than cooking.

Beautiful Blogger Award--Part Two

 

In Part One of the Beautiful Blogger Award post, I talked about the people who nominated me for the award. During Part Two, I am going to tell you seven facts about me that you might not know and about some other blogs you may find interesting.

  

Seven Things about Me You May Not Know and It Didn't Occur to You to Ask

1. I like to eat pickles on my peanut butter sandwiches. It doesn't matter what kind. It's the combination of the dry peanut butter and the juicy pickles that makes it work.

2. I was a cheerleader in junior high and high school even though I'm not very coordinated. Limberness and enthusiasm can carry you a long way.

3. I have saved all of the petals from the roses Ward has given me over the years. They are in a basket in my living room. Thank goodness the cats aren't interested in eating them. They seem to like sampling everything else.

4. I have a bad sense of direction. Turn me around in a hallway and I may get lost. Therefore the GPS, that Ward got me a couple of years ago for my birthday, was one of the best presents I ever got.

5. I love being outside, but don't like it when it is really hot or cold. Then I like looking out the window.

6. Bejeweled is my current favorite computer game. One reason I like it is that I can play a quick game and then move on--that is if I don't start another game. :)

7. I love discovering the variety of titles I see at the library during my job. I think there really has been a book written about everything.

Now for my nominees:

Intermittent Farm Report  This is a delightful blog by Shelley that shows what it's really like to live on a farm and be self sufficient. Shelley writes about her life raising dairy goats, training dogs, tending her garden, building fences, making furniture, making cheese, making soap, etc. Shelley dives into her jobs with enthusiasm and knowledge that makes for interesting and fun reading. The blog is called Intermittent Farm Report because sometimes the farm work takes precedent over her blog.  However, she does provide regular updates that I eagerly wait for.

The Science of Heroes  This blog by Yvonne Carts-Powell keeps you in the know about what is going on the world of science. Yvonne regularly scans science literature and provides easy to understand updates of the current happenings. Besides providing clear summaries, she also occasionally throws in fun experiments and videos. My whole family really enjoys this very interesting blog.

A Place to Reside  Marilyn, the author of this blog, has a way of writing that makes me feel calm. She writes clearly and thoughtfully about a variety of subjects but cooking and food are her favorites. Sometimes she may include a meaningful exchange that she had with someone recently or use beautiful pictures to tell a story. A Place to Reside was on hiatus recently, but is beginning to publish again. In the meantime, look through the archives. I think you will enjoy them.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Here's how it works:

1. Copy the Beautiful Blogger Award logo and place it in your post. 
2. Write something about the blogger who nominated you and link back to their blog.
3. Tell 7 things about yourself.
4. Nominate other bloggers for the Beautiful Blogger Award, and comment on their blogs to let them know.  No number was specified to me, but online, I found other bloggers were nominating 7 new bloggers for this award.

A Second Look--September 12, 2012

Here's a few things I've observed this week during a Second Look. We have been enjoying beautiful weather. I feel like this is our reward for enduring the hot weather last week and the storms on Saturday. The sedum is blooming in all of its glory and is filled with bees and other insects. The cows have moved back into the field behind us and there are several older calves that aren't sure what to make of me. They don't run away as fast as the older cattle, but do run when signaled by their elders.

Here's what I saw this week during a Second Look.

Marigolds and sedum

A few of the insects I saw on the sedum

Acorns brought down by the storm

Pine cones brought down by the storm

 

Cattle have moved back into the field behind me.

This was a young one who wasn't sure if he should be afraid of me or not.